


What's in a Name

by Frazzemrat1



Series: Varric and Marian Tethras [2]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Domestic Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-11-20
Packaged: 2019-08-26 16:52:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16685458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frazzemrat1/pseuds/Frazzemrat1
Summary: A small, part two to the Renegades Mages and Rogues story.Wrote this for the upcoming Unofficial Dragon 4ge Day... Check it outwww.dragon4geday.com





	What's in a Name

**Author's Note:**

> Some notes, if you haven't read the first part of this... Corwyn is what I named my female elf Inquisitor. Also, Marian named her young daughter (who's 4 during this) after the Inquisitor. Garen... well, if you have trouble with where that name came from, let me know. :-D
> 
> This is mostly told from Garen's point of view, so if its a little scattered... well, how often have you spent a day conversing with a 7 yr old?

 

Young Garen Tethras let out his breath slowly before holding it and squeezing the trigger. The recoil pushed him back against his father’s chest as he raised his eye from the sight to see a bolt in the target near the one his father had shot a moment before.  Grinning, the boy looked up at his father.

  “Looks like Bianca likes you, Squirt.”  Varric looked down warmly at his son and relaxed his arms, resting Bianca down on the table in front of them.  “Want to try one more time?”  The boy nodded enthusiastically. 

  Varric watched as the boy repositioned his head down on his crossbow’s sights.  Varric gently repositioned Garen’s hands and body before picking up the crossbow and supporting her weight while his son adjusted her aim.  Bianca released another bolt, sending it to the other side of the target from the first. 

  “This one was worse, Father!” 

  “It takes practice, Squirt.  But you can only practice if I’m here.” 

“With Bianca?” Garen was obviously excited over the prospect of using the crossbow, probably because he wasn’t allowed to touch her. Ever.  Never ever ever.  Varric had made quite sure that Bianca was never out where she was accessible to the boy, the moment he noticed his son’s interest in her.

“Yes, with Bianca. But I think it’s about time to get you learning how to use your own bow.  You’re not to touch either of them without myself or Aunt Aveline here to help you.  And she knows better than to teach you how to use Bianca.  Nobody touches her but me.  And sometimes your mother.”  Varric gave the boy a stern look.

“Yes, Father.” The boy sounded solemn, but Varric could hear the excitement in his voice. 

“Now, place your cheek back on Bianca’s stock, like I showed you and look down her sights… “ Varric explained again how to properly aim the crossbow to his son, while his mind thought about who to talk to about a bow the boy’s size.

 

 

 Garen was slightly shorter than average to other boy’s his age, which he’d proudly tell you was seven.  He had his mother’s black, unruly hair over his father’s warm honey eyes.  His mother called them ‘whiskey’ on his father, but his were honey.  And since honey was sweet and didn’t burn like the time he sneaked a sip of his father’s whiskey, that made his better.  Of course, it wasn’t so sneaky, because he started coughing, and spilling the whiskey, and his father had found him and had used his Father voice.  Mother also said he had his father’s silver tongue, but he didn’t know what that meant since he’d checked and his tongue was pink, and so was Father’s. 

Garen lived in Kirkwall, at his Grandmother Leandra’s house. He didn’t know why that made it special, but it was to Mother.  Father worked at the Viscount’s keep, and for some reason he didn’t like his job.  He’d come home every night, and most of the time he was growly and complained about the Viscount’s chair.  Garen figured it must be a very uncomfortable chair.  Father also traveled occasionally, and sometimes he got to bring his family or sometimes just Mother, or sometimes just Garen.  It was exciting times. 

His mother seemed to work everywhere. Sometimes she went to the Keep with his father, sometimes to the guard hall to work with Aunt Aveline.  Sometimes she worked down in the Alienage with Aunt Merril. 

Garen’s only job was to get in trouble. At least that’s what everybody told him.  He wanted something else to do, and when he tried to do anything he always got in trouble.  He wasn’t allowed to build anything because he wasn’t allowed to touch the hammer after he’d nailed his little sister Corwyn’s braid to the bed.  His Uncle Carver laughed when he’d visited and heard the story.  He knew he wasn’t allowed to touch Bianca.  She belonged to Father and he said she only liked Father. And now maybe himself. And sometimes Mother. 

  Garen usually spent time with his nanny, learning maths and writing.  Nanny said he needed to learn history, and he liked the stories, but he didn’t like how some of them ended.  He had to learn what countries the stories were about.  Sometimes Aunt Merril would teach him, but the stories she told were different, and the language she taught him was different than anybody else spoke in Kirkwall too.  Corwyn didn’t learn with him because she wasn’t up to his level yet, which he thought meant she wasn’t smart enough. 

 But now he was going to get his own very first wonderfullest bow!  He wondered if he should name her.  But what if it was a boy?  How could he tell?  Where girl bows crossbows and boy bows long bows?  But his size would be very much shorter than Aunt Corwyn’s bow.  Was Aunt Corwyn’s bow a boy or a girl?  Garen wasn’t sure if he’d been introduced.

  Later at dinner he ran into the dining area and up to his mother.  He wrapped his arms around her and announced that he was getting a bow.  His mother laughed and held him tight and told Nanny that he was going to need to start armory lessons soon, since he was getting so big. 

  The next morning, Father announced that he was going to take Garen off to the armorers to buy his bow and get his first leather arm bracer.  Garen shoveled his morning cereal as fast as he could, while father chuckled and sipped his coffee. 

  As soon as Garen was ready to leave, he watched his parents kiss each other, suffered through one himself and then off they went.  As they walked Garen thought about a name again.  Bianca was firmly on his father’s back, and Garen knew that Father rarely left the house without her.  He called Mother and Bianca his two girls.  Garen considered, well; three with Corwyn.  Maybe he should just ask Father.

  Garen took a deep breath.  “Father?”

  “Mmm?”

  “How did Bianca get her name?”

  “Well, there was a girl, and I made a promise…”  Father’s voice sounded like he was thinking about something else.  He blinked and then looked down at Garen.  “Wait, did Aunt Isabella tell you to ask me that?” 

  “No!  I just didn’t know what I should name my bow.”  Garen felt his cheeks redden.

  “Ahhh,  I see.  Well, she’ll need a name that means something important to you.”

  “It’ll be a girl bow?  How do you know?  How can you tell?”  Garen asked, the real problem he hadn’t worked out yet.

  Father laughed.  “Well, usually to men we think of our weapons as women.  They only dance for us.  Bianca only sings for me.” 

  “She can sing?”

  “Oh yes, I’ll show you that part the next time I let you shoot her.  But it’s the part that sounds like perfection when you line up and take that perfect shot. “

Father looked down at Garen a moment. "Weapons can also have boy names. Its really up to you."

  Garen nodded, thinking.  He thought he might understand, but on the other hand, he’d only fired Bianca a couple of times.  He continued to think on it while the armorer measured his arms, from fingertip to fingertip, and his height.  She had him pull on the strings of a couple of bows before the woman nodded and decided on one.  She then had him try on several bracers from an area of smaller ones.  Then she selected a quiver and a handful of short arrows and placed them on a table with Garen’s bow and bracers.

  The woman looked at the items on the table and then named a price to his father.  This was Garen’s favorite part.  He loved his father ‘at work’.  Father said this was ‘at work’ but Garen knew this was just a number guessing game, and Father seemed to love it.  Garen even knew the rules!  The woman and Father would each take turns guessing the number that the other was thinking of.  For some reason, Father always started lower than the merchant’s number, but eventually Father always guessed the right number. 

  Garen followed his father to the Keep, where he was sent down to the Guard Hall to Aunt Aveline.   Uncle Donnic stood just outside her office door and smiled when he walked up, bracer on his wrist, Bow on his back and quiver at his hip. 

  “Well, well.  What have you there, Master Tethras?”  The tall guard took a knee, putting himself down to the boy’s level.  Not that Garen was afraid.  Uncle Donnic was harmless.

  “I’ve got a new bow!  Father asked me to ask if Aunt Aveline has some time to spare for me.  We saw Bran and then Father said he had to go put his butt in the chair.  But he used a bad word.”  The last part was whispered.

  “Well, your Aunt Aveline is busy right now, but maybe I can take you outside to the lists.”

  “Really??”  Garen hadn’t been allowed to go out to the lists.  Aunt Aveline said it was dangerous and he’d get in the way, and get his head chopped of if he wasn’t careful.  The boy eagerly followed after the tall guard. 

  Once they were outside and Uncle Donnic had a bow too, they started practicing pulling the strings, without arrows.  Uncle Donnic said it was different than using Bianca, and was he ever right.

  “Uncle Donnic, did you name your bow?” 

  “No, lad.  This is just a common guard’s man bow.  Easy to find, and easily replaced.  You only name your weapon if its special to you.” 

  Garen pulled his string back to his cheek, like Uncle Donnic had said, while he considered.  “A man’s first bow is a special bow, isn’t it?”

  “Right you are, there.  Stop bending your elbow.”

  “Does your sword have a name?”

  “Yes.  Now when I say ‘loose’ that means to let go of the string and ‘loose’ your arrow, if we had them right now.  Ready?

  “Yes, Sir.  What do you call her?”

  “Marigold.  Loose!”

  Garen’s string twanged.  “You named your sword after a flower?”  Garen looked incredulously up at the guardsman. 

  “Yes, I named her after a gift I received from your aunt.  Now your form was good, but you need to make sure you don’t push your forward hand forward when you loose the string.  It will make your aim off.  Now, Draw!  And Loose!!”

 

  Garen continued practicing with Uncle Donnic until lunch until he felt like he couldn’t pull the string back an inch.  They unstrung the bow and put it away while Donnic got them both a plate of food from the mess hall.  Garen tucked into the food, forgetting that his arms were sore.  After they ate, Uncle Donnic brought him to say hi and good bye to his Aunt and then up to the big chair room to say good bye to Father.  His father was sitting in the big chair, and all Uncle Donnic would let him do was wave, when Father looked up.

  As Uncle Donnic walked him home he told him about getting to fire Bianca.  Uncle Donnic seemed properly impressed, which pleased Garen to no end.  He’d gotten to do something that only his father and mother had ever done.

  Once they arrived home, Uncle Donnic told Nanny that he’d had lunch, which frustrated Garen because he was sure he could have more.  Instead Nanny took him to the library to practice his maths.  He thought about what an important name would be, for his bow.  Would she like him better if she had a name?  Would it help him to aim better? 

  But what name?  A name that meant something to him…?  Bianca had a lot of meaning to Father, but he didn’t know why.  Leandra had a lot of meaning for Mother, because it was her Mother’s name.  There was another name that Mother didn’t speak much… What was it?  Bethany?  His Aunt Bethany?  He thought about some of his favorite toys…  But Horse was just named Horse. 

  Then he remembered something important.  Last year, his favoritest dog, Mother’s Mabari had died.  She said his name was Beast, and he’d died protecting Uncle Carver.  Uncle Carver was important to him, so he was grateful to the dog, but knew Mother was very sad. 

  Would his bow like a dog’s name?

 

 

  After dinner Varric took Garen back outside in their courtyard.  He took Bianca off his back and placed her on the table and coached his son on drawing his bow, this time with an arrow.  When Garen loosed the arrow, it sailed forward, but slipped just over the straw target. 

  Varric watched with pride as his son, remembering his lessons from both his father and his uncle, drew his arrow, let out a slow breath before holding his breath.  He loosed the arrow, which let out a slight whistle as it buried its head into the center of the straw.  Garen whooped and cheered. 

“Way to go Beast!!”


End file.
